I Think That I Like Hockey; Who Knew?

Well, I guess I picked a good time to watch my first hockey game. Well, I’ve never watched an entire NHL or Olympic hockey game in my life, but I have been to a Thunderbirds game once and a different minor league game when I was in high school. It goes without saying that I know very little about the sport, but I do know plenty about competition and drama and when a team scores with 24.4 seconds left to tie a game, even the most ignorant fan (me) knows it’s a big deal.

Seriously, what an unbelievable finish, and what a great game to watch, despite the fact that our neighbors (neighbours?) to the North are taking home the gold. While it is hard to follow the puck at times (although not as hard as I originally thought that it would be) and even if I have no idea who these guys are, I enjoyed every minute of the game. As a hockey-viewing novice, I can’t really tell who the good players are because I don’t have any clue if what a guy just did was routine or a difficult maneuver. It looks bad to me if a guy misses the puck or makes what looks to be a weird/bad pass to a teammate, but I don’t know how common those kinds of “mistakes” are, so it’s hard for me to pass judgment. But, and maybe this speaks to the team nature of the game, the individuals don’t seem to matter as much to the outcome of the game, (unless it’s the goalie) but more if the guys playing fit within the team concept that the teams have planned. I could be way off on this, and probably am, but that’s just what I see. Call me ignorant (and you’d be right).

Back to the “hard to follow” issue for me… as I was watching this game, I kept thinking of the battle scenes in Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan, just tons of anonymous white guys running (or skating in this instance) around at high speeds and getting destroyed. I didn’t realize just how awesomely violent hockey is; dudes get pummeled out there and they keep coming back for more. And just like those two WWII epics, I was riveted. Great action, great teamwork, great skill… fantastic stuff. I loved Band of Brothers, but thank goodness it was a miniseries because it was very difficult to figure out who was whom, they all looked the same to me. But after awhile I got to know who they were and it became almost ridiculous that I’d confuse this guy with that guy. I suspect if I put in the time with hockey, the same thing would happen. I’d pick up on nuances and learn what “good” is and what “bad” is…

Speaking of that, as it is right now, I won’t be tuning into the NHL. I have too many sports to follow as it is, but if the NHL were to bestow a franchise onto Seattle… well, things would change. I realize that not every game would be like the one that we just witnessed, but the sport got its hooks into me and if I had a local team to follow, I’d be all in.

Just for fun if the NHL did come to Seattle, what would you like to name the team? It would have to be a nod to the region, but also be cool. We have great sports names in this city: Seahawks (good, but the weakest one by far); Mariners (fantastic); Sounders (great); Sonics (I know, I know, but it’s a great name and they’ll be back!)… we’d have to keep that tradition going with the NHL franchise… any suggestions?

One last thing; as a general rule, hockey jerseys or sweaters or whatever you call them are the coolest-looking uniforms in sports. And of the coolest-looking uniforms, I think that it would be difficult to find cooler jerseys than the two teams that were on the ice on Sunday. USA’s jerseys are beautiful in their simplicity, not to mention they sport the best-looking blue I’ve ever seen. Not quite as dark as navy, but much darker than royal… simply gorgeous. As for Canada, I’ve always loved their flag and their jerseys are pretty much their flags as clothing. Great stuff. For me, the nod goes to USA, those jerseys are just amazing.

I’m so surprised that I actually enjoyed hockey, I’ve been a holdout for a long, long time. I sincerely hope that both the NBA returns and the NHL tries out our market. They’ll do well here and I think they know that.